Bought a pre-modded talon... 5 days later, NO POWER.

[uberswede]

Just this past Wednesday, I picked up a 1997 Talon TSi from an authorized dealer. He took it in on trade-in a few months prior, and knew next to nothing about it.

From what I've found so far, it's got a larger turbo (not sure exactly what yet), XS-Power manifold (ebay special?), full exhaust, K&N Intake, MSD ignition, GReddy boost controller, A'Pexi S-AFC... And there was an OBD-II to USB cable in the glove box too, which leads me to believe there may have been some sort of access port tuning before.

For the last few days, the car was running great. There were a few electrical gremlins the dealer didn't want to deal with, and I've since fixed. Just some terrible wiring done by the previous owner. It has a set of Autometer gauges as well, which weren't working either.

Anyways, I got all the gauges working a few hours ago, and took the car for a spin. It was boosting to about 14psi, still running great. The boost controller never left the 1.0 setting since I got it.

Now knowing my boost level, I tried upping it just a tiny bit and hit the highway. Went up to 1.2 (minimum is 0, and max is 2.0).

I made one quick pull, didn't see where the boost hit, and there was a big sputter and I lost all power.

The air/fuel gauge suddenly said it was really lean, the car would stall if I hit the gas and let off. I can't accelerate much past 4grand.

I tried resetting the ECU by pulling the battery... didn't really do much. The A/F gauge read normal, but slowly went back to lean as I drove around. The boost setting was put back to normal, by the way.


The car seems to idle fine, and if I just drive it normally, and shift before 4grand, it seems fine. It was nighttime, so I couldn't see much smoke, so I don't think there is any.

No puddles under the car. I am stuck.


I've had this car for 5 days now, and I'm trying not to freak out. I'd just like to figure everything out myself while I'm still off of work.


To sum it up :

Turned boost up a little bit, car sputtered before the end of the gear I was in, lost power, stalled when I let off the gas.

Now, won't accelerate much past 4grand without sputtering, and then stalling when I let off again.

It has to be either related to the electrical/tune or the turbo.

Can anybody please shed some light on the situation?

 

[nyTalonTsi]

Sounds like a boost leak. Check the piping.

 

[asb2106]

out of curiosity, does it sound anything like this?

YouTube - video-2010-03-26-17-19-40

thats just my problem...

could be the bov too, 2g BOV's and their mounting is pretty weak, i dont think they can handle much higher than 12, 13 pounds

 

[uberswede]

I considered the piping and quickly glanced at some of it, but didn't see anything. I didn't check all of it, and it was rather dark out. I will check again in the morning.

As for that video... it happens around the same RPM for sure, but that sounds like it just falls flat on it's face. Unless you were letting off right away?

If I keep on the gas, it just sputters and almost sounds like it's only running on 3 cylinders.

That video seems to be a little more violent sounding than how mine sounds.

How can I diagnose if it's the BOV? How would that even cause it to die like that? By just letting off early?

I think it's factory still... it vents back into the factory piping right behind the k&n intake.

 

[nyTalonTsi]

Well yeah 2g bovs suck, but unless your not recirculating then it won't really do that. I suspect a boost leak, and OP what do you mean by msd ignition? MSD plug wires? I would take a look at the wires and plugs. And are you sure you didn't mess with the safc?

 

[uberswede]

Yeah, it seems to be recirculating. So I guess that won't be the issue?

Like I said, I'll look closer at all the piping in the morning when it's warmer and brighter out.

As for the "MSD Ignition"... there were stickers under the hood for "MSD Super Conductor", so I snooped around and found these under the intake...

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

As far as the S-AFC, I have only looked around at settings and not changed anything... it wasn't touched at all when I went for that last drive when things went downhill.

OKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

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I'm PRETTY sure I found the problem... the pipe came off right underneath the turbo. Of course, it was the one connection on the piping I didn't check earlier. I'll put that back on in the morning, I guess.

Hopefully that's all it was.

Looking at it again now, there's another problem... and possibly why the piping came off to begin with.

Right off the turbo, the pipe goes straight down, and the silicone coupler is rubbing right against the front engine mount.

That can't be good? I'm not really sure how I'd get around this issue.

 

[Blue Talon Boy]

Rerouting it or at least moving it a little bit will probably be the only option. Not quite sure I know which piping you are referring to though??

 

[westcoast]

Can you post a photo of the area?

 

[Blue Talon Boy]

How bout a pic of the offending connection?